Maybe this is the miracle of Tim Tebow: The Broncos win, even when they lose, lose, lose.

Any other NFL team that looked as inept as Denver did Sunday during a 7-3 loss to Kansas City would take a three-game losing streak and go home. But the Broncos are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

The Tebow Show gets renewed for another week. It's good television, even when the quarterback plays bad football. That's the Tebow mystique.

"I don't know about any mystique. But I'm grateful for another opportunity," said Tebow, after completing six of 22 passes and being outplayed by Chiefs quarterback Kyle Orton, cut earlier this season by Denver.

Now for the tough questions:

Do the slumping Broncos have a prayer in the playoffs, which they will open at home against Pittsburgh?

"We keep putting that product out there like we did (today) and it's not going to be pretty," star cornerback Champ Bailey said.

If Orton had stunk up the stadium the way Tebow did, including a late interception in a crucial home game, wouldn't booing Broncomaniacs have demanded that the team bench him?

Denver coach John Fox gave a succinct critique of Tebow: "Just like the rest of our team, not quite good enough."

Can the Broncos win consistently in the Internet age with an offense so painfully conservative that it appears as if the team's playbook was stolen from the trunk of a 1958 Ford Edsel?

Advertisement

"We've got to get more balanced. We can't just be a running team," said Willis McGahee, whose 145 rushing yards were the only signs of life when Denver had possession of the football.

It was a strange scene in the Denver locker room after a defeat so sobering there was not even a whiff of champagne in the air to celebrate the Broncos' first trip to the postseason in six seasons.

As TVs beamed the good news that an Oakland loss allowed Denver to back into the championship tournament despite an unimpressive 8-8 record, players dressed in frustrated silence. One of the few smiles found anywhere was when Tebow posed for a photograph with Eric LeGrand, a paralyzed Rutgers University football player who attended the game as a guest of Broncos legend Terrell Davis.

"Doesn't matter how we get in the playoffs," veteran linebacker Mario Haggan said. "The mood now is: Get better fast. The formula is get in the playoffs and win, win, win. All you want is an opportunity."

The Broncos are three victories from a berth in the Super Bowl. No matter the long odds facing them, it's a chance only die-hard optimists would have anticipated when Denver began the season with four losses in five games and Fox benched Orton in favor of Tebow.

The Tebow Show is what allowed the Broncos to regain their mojo and become meaningful players on the national stage. He has been the hottest trending topic in the NFL, whether inspiring fans to strike prayerful poses or being attacked by comedian Bill Maher for mixing religion with football.

In a single afternoon, Orton achieved a measure of vengeance against his former employer and also vindicated his critics by doing just enough as a quarterback to get the Broncos beat. In a tough season, Orton won as many games in this stadium for Kansas City as he did for Denver.

"It's been a long year for me. All around, family stuff, career stuff, it was a long year," said Orton, who threw for an unremarkable 180 yards against a stout Denver defense that stubbornly gave Tebow a shot at the fourth- quarter magic that made him famous.

But funny thing about magic. Poof! And it's gone.

During the current losing streak, Tebow has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. In the past three games, Tebow personally has been responsible for more turnovers (seven) than touchdowns (four).

Rockies relief pitcher John Axford, who hasn't pitched for the team since last Wednesday, was forced to leave spring training camp after his 2-year-old son was bit by a rattlesnake twice in his right foot.

One-day event to run slide down University HillIt's not quite the alternative mode of transportation that Boulder's used to, but, for one day this summer, residents will be able to traverse several city blocks atop inflatable tubes.

DETROIT (AP) — In a story March 27 about a 'Little Syria' exhibit going to Ellis Island, The Associated Press, due to incorrect information from the Arab American National Museum, erroneously reported the date the exhibit will open. Full Story